connected feelings
by cherryblossomthundercrash
Summary: drabbles for sasusaku month 2019.
1. far from home

**a/n**: i was actually posting my ssmonth entries as an anthology on ao3 just to get a feel for that site but it really wasn't for me so i deleted it after three days. so i thought i'd bring the anthology here. but i'm not doing all of the prompts, btw.

* * *

day one. **far from home.**

**Rating: K**

This absolutely wasn't the plan.

Well, getting Sakura pregnant in the middle of the wilderness wasn't really a part of any plan, either. But where his wife gave birth, Sasuke thought that was at least something he could control.

When Sasuke envisioned their child's birth, he had imagined Konoha's finest medic, Tsunade herself, to take care of his wife and child. He had expected Naruto and Kakashi to be there, maybe even Ino and Sai who would surely paint the entire scene, and Sakura's parents, especially.

Instead, he had brought his wife to one of Orochimaru's hideouts, to give birth to their child in a room that's probably been used for the sannin's perverse and inhumane experiments, in the care of a woman who's had an obsessive streak over him, while he was shut out and told to wait out with the comrades he had once planned the apocalypse with.

It's not that he didn't trust Karin, because he did. Sakura had saved her life once when he had threatened it, and she felt that she was forever indebted to the kunoichi. So it's not Karin, it's that Sasuke would rather have his hand crushed by Sakura's tight grip while she goes into labor than sit out here in Suigetsu's _delightful_ company.

Juugo, at least, had the decency to look at him apologetically for the other's behavior.

"Hey, man, really though," Suigestu started, seemingly sincere. Then he bared his shark teeth when he grinned. "Congrats on the sex!"

…

"Fix your face, you're a father now."

Sasuke scowled at Karin as he watched her hold the little bundle in her arms and whisk it away to another room to get cleaned, without even giving him−_the father from whose loins this being came from_−a peek at his own child.

"Karin was really amazing," Sakura murmured and he immediately relaxed. He reached down beneath her blanket to find her hand and laced their fingers together, and she rubbed her thumb in comforting circles over his knuckles.

You're _really amazing_, he wanted to say, but he was rendered speechless by how beautiful she looked, so he settled for squeezing her hand before pulling away only to thread his fingers through her pink hair. His wife had always been beautiful, but right now, in this moment, there was a different glow to her skin. She was absolutely ethereal.

"You're a dad, Sasuke-kun."

"Aa. You're a mother."

"Our baby is so beautiful," she said, her voice so soft with affection and exhaustion. Her brows knitted for a quick moment and her lips quivered slightly, eyes shining bright. "She has, like, little _baby hairs_ on her baby head. And she has the _smallest_ toes in the world and her hands−Sasuke-kun, her _hands_. They're so _tiny_!"

"You're going to love her," she added.

He scoffed. Silly woman, he's loved his daughter from the moment she was the size of a pea in her mother's belly. He's loved his daughter ever since he's loved his wife.

He bent down and pressed his lips onto her forehead, and she giggled when he dragged his lips over her two eyes, then trailed down her cheek before his lips finally captured hers. He kissed her lightly, tenderly, and it's every feeling his heart carried and every heavy sentiment he's incapable of saying.

"Thank you, Sakura." he said it like it's _I love you_.

(_hey, i want to see sasuke's baby, too!_

_wait your turn, you neaderthal! i'd even advise them not to let you _anywhere _near this princess!_)


	2. patterns

day two. **patterns.**

**Rating: T**

"um, what're you doing?" naruto asks the woman next to him.

they're supposed to be cuddling, for crying out loud. but here was ino, holding her phone so close to her face that the tip of her nose is almost touching the screen. "i'm investigating," she says simply. she inches closer to him so that he could see her screen, could see her zooming in on every corner of the picture sakura had just sent her on snapchat.

"it's not proper etiquette to screenshot a snap," he grumbles.

she glares at him. "look," she hisses, pointing at the picture. it's one of sakura lying in bed, making an adorably ugly face for her streaks. _good night_, the caption says. naruto's about to ask what exactly it is that he should be looking at when ino proceeds. "look at her blanket. that's not her blanket! she has a white comforter with naked snails all over it!"

then it dawns on him. "holy shit."

he snatches the phone out of her hand and now it's his turn to _investigate_. "holy shit!" he says again as he zooms in on the all too familiar pattern of lightning bolts on navy blue sheets.

"what is it?"

"look," he says, weirdly calm on the outside but internally screaming bloody murder on the inside. "i'm not saying she's in sasuke's bed, but i don't think they shop at the same department store…"

ino's eyes widen and her jaw drops in realization. she grabs her phone from him while he feels for his own on the nightstand next to him, each calling their respective best friends.

"FOREHEAD, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE BANGING UCHIHA SASUKE?!"

"TEME, HOW DARE YOU TAINT SAKURA-CHAN?!"


	3. city lights

day four. **city lights.**

**Rating: K**

Sakura had only gotten out of a twelve-hour surgery when she came back to her office and found a note on her table, the messenger long gone. Heart racing, she didn't even shut the door as she bolted out of the room, racing up the stairwell because she didn't have another second to spare in waiting for the elevator. That's how it was with Sasuke now; he went as fast as he came.

She burst through the heavy door that led out to the roof and sagged with relief when she found him still there, dark as the night with his cloak fluttering about him. "Thank goodness," she breathed out.

Heart leaping in her chest, she flung herself at him and he caught her in a tight, one-armed embrace. She felt him kiss the crown of her head and she pulled away slightly, just enough to get a good look at him. "How much time do you have?" she asked, her voice too soft, too quiet in her own ears, like she's silently praying that he had long. That he would stay. For good.

His mouth set in a thin, hard line and his brows furrowed slightly, a clear look of displeasure. "I only came to report to Naruto."

_But I wanted to see you_, went unsaid.

"Well, thank you for waiting."

Up here on the roof, Konoha glowed brightly underneath them. It had become unapologetically urban and there were barely any trees now. It was ugly in the morning, chaotic in its crowdedness but now it was too dark to make out the individual structures, the tall buildings from the low houses, the pyramids from the spheres. Right now, in her husband's arm, the village spread below them, far and wide and free. It was alive with light and colors. Distant towers blinked red, high buildings illuminated with different colors, farther down a part of the village burned with neon lights.

The village twinkled like a thousand misplaced stars.

"It's different," Sasuke said after a moment, his voice low and unexpressive.

Sakura cocked her head slightly in curiosity. "Is different bad?"

It's not the Konoha he remembered leaving, she knew. It wasn't the Konoha she had grown up in either. But it's Konoha, and it's home, and it's where she was so it's where he would always come home to.

"No," he answered simply, squeezing her a little as he said it.

_Not as long as you're with me_, went unsaid.


	4. one of these nights

**sequel to the _day 2_ prompt.**

* * *

day seven. **one of these nights.**

**Rating: T**

she isn't _banging _uchiha sasuke. not yet, at least. not when she trips over herself when he so much as looks at her and he gets choked up every time she makes a move to kiss him and they're both too embarrassed to even hold hands. which is absolutely ridiculous, by the way, because they've been friends for years.

but it's new, this thing between them−28 hours old, to be exact. sasuke had waited for sakura at the school entrance until she finished with her club activities like he always did and she'd confessed that she liked him on the walk home. he had simply looked at her for a long moment, totally unreadable, before he nodded and took her hand in his and continued on the usual route to her house without much words.

she's only at his place now to tutor him in chemistry.

sakura is on the floor when sasuke comes back from the bathroom, now too embarrassed to be anywhere remotely close to his bed. his face is red, a little embarrassed and a little annoyed−she had overheard him promise naruto the most painful of deaths while he was in the bathroom, while ino was accusing her of deflowering the prince of chastity over the phone.

"i should go." she scrambles to her feet and gathers her things from his desk.

"you can stay the night," he says simply.

it's a little past ten and the streets are dark, too dark for a seventeen-year-old girl to walk alone. her heart races in her chest but she leaves her things and accepts his invitation. she's slept over a million times before that her parents wouldn't even be wondering where she is at the moment or worry when she doesn't come home. but it's different now. they aren't just friends who help each other with homework or lose track of time playing video games−they're… _together _now.

_god_, she thinks almost dreadfully when he exits the room. _without a doubt, naruto and ino are gonna force us into double-dates. _

he comes back with extra pillows, a blanket, and a futon, and the words slip out of her mouth before she even thinks about them. "you don't have to sleep on the floor."

sasuke visibly stiffens. "i do," he says, a little too quickly, a little too stiffly. he almost looks pained when his eyes meet hers for a split second, then he quickly turns away. when he busies himself with fixing his bed, she ignores how red the tips of his ears are.

"goodnight, sasuke-kun," she whispers when it's dark and quiet and she's overwhelmed by the smell of him on the clothes she wears and the pillow she lies on and the blanket that keeps her warm.

"night."

one of these nights it will happen; they'll be able to meet each other's eyes unabashedly, kiss like it's as natural as breathing, and touch with purpose and without inhibition. but for now, sakura dangles her arm over the side of the bed and sasuke's fingers immediately find hers. for now, they fall asleep holding hands.


	5. oasis

day eight. **oasis.**

**Rating: T**

_"the one who filled his existence with the emotion called love was sakura." / _

_"haruno sakura had dedicated her love for him and always tries to be the spring sunshine to his own dark life."_

Sasuke entered the cemetery with trepidation. It was his first time coming here, his first time coming to see his big brother. Unlike Konoha Heights where his parents have been buried for seven months now, this cemetery was drab and depressing. The statues were covered in dirt and a lot of the tombs were already dilapidated, some even broken through by growing roots. After trudging through unkempt and overgrown grass, he finally arrived at Itachi's gravestone, a slab of rock with only his name and the years of his short life carved on it.

He didn't know why he came. Maybe to gloat, but what was there to gloat about when he himself was wasting away in his dorm? Maybe to be angry, but he didn't have enough in himself to feel something as strong as anger. Maybe to pee on his brother's stone, vandalize it, destroy it, disrespect it any way he could because that was all he could afford to do now that there was no longer a living, breathing body for him to beat to death.

His hands curled into tight fists in the pockets of his hoodie. There were flowers at his feet, a small bouquet of lilies and pink carnations. For Itachi.

He stomped on them like he wanted to stomp on his brother's face.

* * *

Once, his paintings had been mundane landscapes reimagined with vivid combinations of color, still life drawings animated with so much emotion from simple brush strokes. Now, his paintings were a chaos of greys, blacks, and reds, a cacophony of pain and agony. His strokes were thoughtless and violent, attacking white canvas with unseeing eyes as color bled through the material.

Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha had been stabbed to death by their own son in their bedroom on Christmas morning and Itachi Uchiha had hung himself in his little brother's bedroom. This was what Sasuke had come home to when he left his dorm for the holidays.

His art was an obvious cry for help that nobody was quite sure how to answer. His friends tried to, but the only time Sasuke let his walls down was when he was assaulting a piece of canvas and making a mess out of colors. Outside of these moments, he was more vicious, more brutal than the art he created. So Naruto and Shikamaru just shared hopeless, worried looks over his back.

* * *

Sasuke was supposed to be meeting with a shrink right about now, but instead he walked through the tall gates of Konoha Heights like he was walking into his own home. Once, it had taken him half an hour to find where his parents were buried, but now he took long, confident strides as though he was making his way to their living room and he would find his mom and dad sitting on the couch, waiting for him−

He stopped abruptly, brows knitting together. There was a trespasser.

She almost looked unreal, standing in the middle of the cemetery with flowers in her arms. Her pink hair fluttered about her as a breeze passed, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. She was like spring in the middle of a biting winter.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously, almost angrily as he stalked towards her.

Big, round seafoam green eyes snapped up to him and her lower lip trembled in what seemed like terror. "Are you S-Sasuke?"

The little pink-haired girl bowed her head low, thrusting the flowers she was holding towards him. "My name's Sakura Haruno!" she said, but she sounded like she was pleading for her life rather than introducing herself. "I'm sorry, please forgive me. I… I know your brother−"

Sasuke stiffened and the girl straightened up, cringing, completely red in the face as she looked anywhere but at him. "Well, no, I don't _know _your brother, not really. But−" she paused, squeezed her eyes shut and breathed in deeply. When she opened her eyes again, they were clear and when she spoke again, she was calm. "You see, my dad died five months ago," she began. "I visit him every day, I leave flowers for him every day, and… I couldn't help but notice that no one's ever come to visit the grave next to his…"

She paused and searched his face for a reaction, anything. But he remained tight-lipped, unable to think, unable to speak, unable to make anything out of what she was saying. "I felt bad for him," she continued. "Itachi Uchiha was so young, and… I don't know, I thought maybe he didn't have a family. So I started bringing him flowers myself. But one day, out of curiosity, I looked him up and the first results were… news articles… about what he did…"

"And I'm just−ugh, _brimming _with guilt! I wanted to pay my respects to your parents, his victims. I'm really sorry, Sasuke-san, I am _absolutely _mortified."

* * *

Sasuke didn't know how he ended up here, in a corner table at a cafe in the art district. The strange girl, Sakura, had offered to buy him a cup of coffee to make up for what she had done and he had, surprisingly, said yes. Mostly because he was curious−what type of person would buy flowers for someone they didn't even know? was she kind or stupid?−but partly because she was pretty, but he'd keep that to himself.

She'd started talking about herself the moment they got their coffees. Within ten minutes, he had learned her name, what she majored in, what university she went to, where she worked part-time, and the majority of her childhood leading up to when she was nine. And he found that he didn't mind listening to her prattle on about things that were inconsequential to him.

The more he looked at her, the more he felt his fingers itch. The lighting was too perfect, and her own coloring made it even better−the soft pink of her hair, the pearly white of her teeth, the little gold flecks in her green eyes, and the light tan of her skin.

She was talking about the rabbit her dad had bought her for her tenth birthday when the words tumbled from his mouth. "Let me paint you."

* * *

For weeks, she came to his university on her free time and sat on a stool before him and his easel.

Sasuke didn't notice what she did to him, but Naruto and Shikamaru smiled at him more, proud of the color coming back to his cheeks and the weight he's been putting back on because he started eating full meals again, courtesy of the pink-haired nixie who brought food with her every time she came to their campus. He started painting in pastels, doodling in the margins of his notes, absentmindedly etching cherry blossom petals on every free surface available to him.

He'd even started visiting his parents with her.

* * *

When he finished the painting, he found that he didn't want to give it to her. Since she was done modeling for him out of a strong sense of moral obligation, Sakura had no reason to come back to the art studio in his university, no reason to see him again at all.

She stood behind him, looking at her portrait over his shoulder. When he turned to look at her, he found that her eyes were shining with wonder, her mouth spread in an awestruck smile. "It's beautiful," she said, clasping her hands together. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

* * *

When she nonchalantly said that maybe she loved him, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in from the moment he saw her in the middle of the graveyard.


	6. rice wine

**i'd be lying if i said this wasn't inspired by the jonas brothers' drinking game when they were trying to patch things up as a band.**

* * *

day nine. **rice wine.**

**Rating: K**

Naruto had barreled through Sakura's front door with several bottles of sake and an unwilling Uchiha following close behind. _We're going to play a drinking game_, he had said. _It's going to be fun_, he had promised. _It's going to be a_ team bonding exercise_!_ he had cried out with vigor, giving his trademark shit-eating grin and a thumbs up.

"_Team building exercise_, my ass," Sakura grumbles under her breath. A better team building exercise would be helping her clean up the mess he made after he invited himself into her home only to trash it.

She picks up scattered pieces of paper and jams them into the tin can the hokage-in-training had brought. The rules of the game had been simple: randomly pick a question from the can and answer it; the other two would rate the honesty of the answer on a 1-10 scale and the higher rating would be the number of seconds the responder had to drink.

She clears away a total of ten empty bottles of sake−even so, Naruto had been completely sober when he left to go home and so is she, having high alcohol tolerance on top of being able to completely drain the alcohol out of her system. Sasuke, however, didn't fare so well.

Sakura knows that sleep doesn't come easy for Sasuke, and she's almost tempted to leave him where he is, on her kitchen table with his face pillowed on his lone arm. But she considers how his back would ache in the morning, so she nudges him gently.

He groans and grumbles, and it makes her giggle. "Sasuke-kun," she continues to prod, speaking ever so softly. "Let me take you to the couch, okay? You'll sleep better there."

It takes another six seconds before he raises his heavy head and lets her sling his arm across her shoulders. The trip from the kitchen table to the couch is less than twenty steps but it takes them longer to get there as they wobble when he leans his entire weight on her.

Don't get it twisted; Haruno Sakura has been known to destroy mountains and carry entire infrastructures all with her bare hands, but Sasuke towers over her at 6 feet and 115 lbs and she's not about to waste chakra just to get to her own living room.

She drops him onto the couch unceremoniously and instead of falling fast asleep like she expects, he only stares up at her. He frowns, but not at her, and she sits on the low table before him when she realizes he's trying to say something but couldn't quite find the right words. She leans closer and places a hand on his knee, looking into his glazed eyes with patient understanding and encouragement.

"You… regret…" he starts and stops, and he looks like he's about to cuss at himself. He takes another moment and he almost looks like he's pouting and something in her chest just grows a little tight. "You don't love me anymore?" he asks with the innocence of a hurt child.

Her breathing stops as she registers his question, her hand sliding down from his knee.

"Do you regret anything from when we were younger?" Naruto read the question.

Sakura knew that Naruto had written the question in hopes that it would be Sasuke who answered it. The two of them had been wanting to hear from his own mouth that he regretted leaving−leaving his home, leaving his friends, his newfound family. But as luck would have it, it was Sakura who had gotten the slip of paper. Though a little disappointed, she didn't miss a beat in answering. "Absolutely," she said. "I regret spending the beginning of our genin days pining after Sasuke-kun and making sure I looked pretty." Bitterly, she added, "Maybe if I acted right from the beginning, Kakashi-sensei would have taken me seriously."

Sakura didn't voice it often, but a small part of her had always been jealous of the attention Kakashi gave the two boys. He trained them and helped them work through their personal issues, while she… watched from the sidelines, an outsider to her own team. It didn't help when he treated her like fine china when Sasuke had left her heartbroken.

The boys had rated her answer a 10, and when Sasuke downed his own drink, she'd thought he was just bored.

"Sasuke-kun," she says softly now. A little bolder because of his inebriation, she lifts her hand and pushes his hair out of his eyes then cups his cheek. "I couldn't unlove you even if I wanted to."

And it's probably a tired, washed out version of her grand love confessions he's used to, but that doesn't make it any less true.

"Goodnight, Sasuke-kun."

* * *

In the morning, Sasuke's head pounds and Sakura tends to him. Her chakra is warm and soothing as her glowing hands hover over him, taking the remnants of last night away. But he hadn't been as drunk as he'd expected to be, and he remembers the quiet moments before he had slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

He opens his mismatched eyes when his head starts to feel clear and he grabs her hand before she pulls away. Her brows raise in surprise and her mouth slightly hangs open with an unspoken question. "Just give me… a little more time," he says, almost pleading.

She turns her hand in his grip so that their fingers are laced together and smiles at him warmly. "Okay, Sasuke-kun," she says, and it stirs something inside him, a warmth that bleeds through his chest and spreads all over, down to his fingertips and his toes, and leaves a funny feeling in his stomach.

He leaves Konoha a week after and he knows that he had asked too much of her. But she sees him off anyway and she must know that it's her he's going to come home to. She asks if she can come with him but she understands when he tells her no, that this is something he needs to do for himself by himself. for her, too, he thinks, because he knows that he will never be deserving of her but he wants to at least be able to give her the best of him if she insists on having him.

"Maybe next time," he says instead, tapping two fingers to her forehead. And it's not like a deflection like his brother used to do. It's a promise.


	7. fox's wedding

day ten. **fox's wedding.**

**Rating: T**

it has been said that the uchiha are cursed, that there was a curse placed upon the men of their family way before sasuke was ever even a possibility. it's why his grandfather had gone mad and killed his entire family, why his father had died in the line of duty, and why his brother had gone blind and died in a freak accident.

sasuke never paid heed to these superstitions. especially not now, when he feels blessed more than ever. his wife, as of a few hours ago, runs out of the car as soon as he's parked in front of the beach house they're spending their honeymoon at.

it's raining even though the sun is high up in the sky and the clouds have made way for it, and uchiha sakura dances under the shower. the elders might have something to say about this, too. something about bad omens, probably something about the devil or witches or spirits, maybe even foxes−it's always foxes. the more romantic of cultures might even say it's two half-horse humanoids getting married, or whatever ridiculous fairytale old maids had concocted in ancient times to keep themselves from getting bored when they ran out of local town gossip.

but the point of the matter is that uchiha sasuke doesn't feel cursed. and when sakura smiles at him, he feels like the luckiest man alive.

* * *

sakura falls fast asleep after they make love. the windows they've left open for the fresh breeze also lets in the pale moonlight, which almost makes her naked flesh glow in the dark. sasuke runs his fingers through her pink tresses, caresses her cheek, and feels the soft skin as his hand follows the slope of her hip. she hums pleasantly from his touch, but gives no indication that she's going to wake up for him, for another round.

he sighs and gets out of the bed to get himself a glass of water. he's pulling his boxers on when something catches his eyes. beyond the window, along the ocean that stretches before them, he sees lights. bright lights, twinkling lights, big lights… they almost remind him of paper lanterns and torches, lights he would always see at festivals they went to as a family when he was a kid.

he could see the lights reflected in the water, glittering in the pale moonlight, mesmerizing him. the wind whispers in his ears in invitation and the soft waves beckon to him.

sasuke doesn't know how he got here but when he hears sakura calling his name, wading into the cold water after him, he is waist deep in the ocean.

* * *

she makes herself coffee and she makes him tea. they sit together in the living room, with her leaning her back against the armrest of the couch so that she's facing him. she looks at him with wide, worried eyes, and he tries to act unshaken despite being rattled to his core.

he had walked out of the house and walked so far into the ocean without his knowing, going after lights that disappeared the moment he came back into consciousness.

"you saw… lanterns. like... ghost lights?"

"drop it, sakura." he reaches for her foot and attempts to massage it to make her feel better, to get her mind off the bizarre event, but she pulls away from him. she has no intention of letting this go. he shakes his head. "i probably just drank too much shochu."

her brows draw together and she shifts so that she's right next to him. "my parents are from different villages," she starts. "my mom talked about those often. we call them ghost lights, in the city. but in their village, when mysterious lights appear like that, they call it the wedding of foxes."

sasuke rolls his eyes. for a woman of science, sakura herself is pretty superstitious. she believes in everything. she takes fortune cookies to heart, checks her horoscope every morning, and she believes in deities and spirits of all kinds. she's taken all the lore she was raised on and holds onto them with such faith.

"don't roll your eyes at me!" she punches him lightly on the shoulder and he sees her fist shake.

she's scared, he realizes. "sakura…"

"but my dad…" she visibly shudders as she continues. "in their village, they don't see it as a wedding. to them, it's the fox's funeral… and it means that someone is about to die."

* * *

**a/n**: oof i tried my hand at writing horror for once but idk


	8. gravitation

day twelve. **gravitation.**

_**good omens au; angel/demon au**_

**Rating: K**

The angel and the demon sat side by side on their usual park bench, watching mortals mill about. Her, in a clean-cut white suit and a frilly white parasol with white doves embroidered on it and him, in dirty boots and ripped jeans and a leather jacket in the middle of summer.

The pink-haired angel snapped her parasol close, aghast. She had been watching a lovely exchange between a married couple and their newborn daughter when, out of the blue, a younger woman passed by and the husband's eyes followed her as she went, his eyes glued to her backside.

She gaped at the demon sitting next to her. "They have a _baby_!"

"Not my fault his eyes strayed from his wife."

"It was _totally_ your fault," she cried. "Sasuke-kun, that is awful…"

"Thank you, angel."

Taking her distress as a compliment, he smiled smugly at her, flashing her his fangs. He took off his sunglasses and tucked it into the pocket of his jacket, and she's once again met with eyes that bled red, mesmerized by the swirling tomoes in them.

She's known him for centuries, and she herself didn't quite understand _why_, but they always seemed to find each other in every era. Even weirder and more confusing that they seemed to prefer each other's company over their peers'.

Sometimes, she would even find herself wondering what he looked like… in white. He must have worn white _before_, right?

It was a taboo topic, but curiosity got the best of her, as always. "You were an angel once," she started slowly, and his brows shot up in surprise. "What was that like for you?"

He shrugged his shoulders casually. "I just wasn't good at… being good."

She was an angel. Her empathy knew no bounds, and right then, even as he watched the mortals with a menacing grin on his face, she felt his pain, his confusion, his anger. Maybe she even felt it more than he did.

"Did it hurt…?"

"When I fell from heaven?" he said dryly, smirking at her. The tomoes in his eyes teased her.

She shot him an unimpressed look.

"It, uh… burned," he said thoughtfully. Even when he averted his gaze, she could see the pain and agony reflected in his red eyes, as if he were reliving his descent from heaven. Like he still felt the way his wings caught on fire as he plunged through the skies, and the black ink that spread over his skin singed every inch of him. He had burned from the inside out, as if it were his _soul_ that was burning. "It burned a little."

Sakura felt her heart break just a little for this demon, and she scooted closer to him as she opened up her parasol again. She held it over him, providing shade from the blistering sun.

* * *

**a/n**: have yall seen sasusaku on the sasuke retsuden cover? i haven't been able to stop thinking/talking about it!


	9. turbulence

day sixteen.** turbulence.**

**_dirty politics au_**

**Rating: M**

The president was dead.

And the headlines would be more of a scandal than an obituary.

Danzo Shimura was found in a hotel room with remnants of white powder and irritated skin under his nose, used needles on the nightstand next to him, and a nameless prostitute by his side, equally cold and lifeless.

Someone had tipped reporters so it was too late for Intelligence to do damage control and keep the president's salacious death under wraps. There were still a few hours left before the media dug deeper into this scandal and found the skeletons in his closetand god, did Danzo Shimura have a lot of them. And Sasuke's family was most of them.

By morning, his name would be so tarnished he was better off buried in his own backyard.

Justice was right at his fingertips, but Sasuke Uchiha tried not to look too pleased with himself as he stood in a room with the vice president and the country's top Intelligence Agents.

Naruto sat on the edge of his seat with his head in his hands, shuddering. Sasuke thought he ought to be happier. Not many vice presidents lived to become president. It was shameful, really, and he had to look away so that nobody would see the disgust on his face. The most powerful person in the country was shaking like a bamboo stick in the middle of a storm. Tch.

But here came Miss Sakura Haruno, like the supportive best friend and trusted adviser that she was, wrapping an arm around his shoulders while she stroked his arm comfortingly. "Go home, Naruto," she said gently. "Sasuke and I will figure this out and we'll talk in the morning. I'm sure it's going to be a circus tomorrow, so go get some rest."

She placed him in the strict care of agents Hatake and Nara, and doubled his security detail.

Sasuke locked the door after them and when he turned back to his esteemed colleague, she was already behind the president's desk, helping herself to an expensive bottle of scotch she had found in one of the drawers. The gentle visage and her almost motherly disposition were gone now, a snake shedding its skin.

God, how he wanted to fuck her on that desk. Fuck her in every corner of this room, in fact. And they had all the time for that, seeing as to how this was _their _office now. He cocked his head a little as he drank her in; the regality, the grace, the _power_.

"The girl wasn't part of the plan," she said, impassive as she poured herself a glass.

He shrugged without remorse. The girl was collateral damage. She was nothing. "Kakuzu got carried away, I guess."

She lowered herself into the president's seat like it's where she _belonged_.

"You look good in that chair."

And she must see how hard he was by now because her grin is devilish around the rim of her glass. She licked her lips as her knowing green eyes moved up from his crotch to meet his eyes again, black as an oil spill and just as incendiary.

"Utatane's going to be onto us," she continued, just as he reached her. She had her legs crossed and her foot began trailing up his leg just as he was close enough for her to touch. "Ever the loyalist, that old hag."

"She'll be taken care of." He took hold of her ankle and slipped off her stiletto, running his hand over the smooth skin of her leg. She gasped when he pulled her none too gently so that she was bracing herself right at the edge of her seat. He lowered himself to his knees, eyes holding hers as his lips lightly ghosted the length of her leg.

"You look good down there," she said, almost purring as she returned his earlier remark.

"Hn." He parted her knees farther and pulled her legs over his shoulders, smirking as her breathing grew deeper and her eyes grew darker. He dipped his head forward, pressing open-mouthed kisses on the inside of her thighs. She gasped sharply as began nipping and licking and sucking as he neared her core, and she was already jerking her hips towards him when he paused in his ministrations and met her eyes again. "Are you going to dispose of me, too, once you get what you want?" Sasuke murmured, his lips hovering over her damp sex.

Sakura let out a shaky breath, throwing her head back a little as she laughed mirthlessly. When she looked down at him again, her mouth twisted in a cruel smile. She reached down and took a hold of his hair, and he didn't protest when she put him right where she wanted him. "I'm afraid you've made yourself quite too valuable to me, Uchiha-san."

…

The chaos in the aftermath of the disgraced president's death was quick to subside when Naruto Uzumaki, the much beloved vice president, had announced that he was stepping up to the position. The political journey from being a local governor to presidency was a long one, and how he went through it untouched by corruption and still so _(naive)_ earnest is a mystery. The country would be lucky to have such a leader.

And when he addressed the nation for the first time, Sasuke and Sakura watched proudly from the sidelines, looking on proudly at their _(puppet) _best friend.

* * *

**a/n**: readers from both here on tumblr are asking if i'm going to be continuing the day 10 prompt: fox's wedding and the answer is no. there are only two possible outcomes for this fic: a) ssk dies or b) ssk n skr work together to find a way to reverse the curse. one demands too much emotion and the other demands too much thought and plot, and i'm not apt for either at the moment.


	10. something new

**last part to the _day 2_ and _day 7_ prompts.**

* * *

day twenty. **something new.**

**Rating: M**

there aren't many things that can catch the uchiha off-guard. but here he is, frozen and gaping as his girlfriend of three months comes out of the bathroom, the yellow sundress she's been wearing all day replaced by pink lace that exposed more than it covered. she looks up at him with a conflict of bashful confidence and when she takes a step forward, sasuke feels his knees weaken and he falls on his bed.

"happy birthday, sasuke-kun," she says even though his birthday is still three days away. he swallows audibly as she steps between his legs. the bodysuit is even flimsier up close, and his mouth runs dry at the sight of barely covered flesh as he sees the tuft of hair between her legs and her nipples straining over the equally-pink fabric.

sakura reaches for the hem of his shirt and by the time he's pulled it over his head, he finds her already kneeling before him, reaching for the zipper of his jeans. he helps her get rid of that, too, but when she reaches out to where he's already hard and aching, he grabs her by the elbow and pulls her up onto his lap.

her brows furrow in confusion. "but you like it when i−"

"i want _you_," he says, just before slanting his mouth over hers.

they've done things before; they've messed around and kissed a little too deeply and touched under their clothes and lower, so he knows how to make her feel good, how to make her squirm, how to make her cry out with his fingers and his mouth.

when they part for air, she's lying on her back beneath him. her skin is flushed, so much so that he almost thinks she's having an allergic reaction. but she tugs him back down to her and she's hot, so hot to the touch, deliciously burning against him. he could feel her smooth skin under the roughness of lace and his hands itch for it, so he tugs and tugs and searches for purchase, to feel her bare skin against his bare skin.

"wait!" she pushes him away so hard and so abruptly that he freezes, his arousal cooling down almost immediately to be replaced by sheer terror and concern.

"are you okay? did i−"

"no. no, i'm fine, it's just…this is so expensive and i'm scared you're gonna tear it." there's a long pause between them then she's blushing even harder, and her face twists with something close to mortification. she raises her hands over her face and groans. "that was _so _unsexy, i'm sorry!"

he rolls his eyes. she's absolutely ridiculous. she's the sexiest fucking thing he's ever laid his eyes on and being broke doesn't make her any less sexy and that's exactly what he tells her, leaning down so that his lips brush the shell of her ear with every syllable. he smirks when she shivers. then he pulls away and sits back to give her space, hand skimming her thigh as he went. "take it off."

"take it off yourself." she smiles coyly up at him, a bold attempt at seduction.

but sasuke only rolls his eyes again. it's both their first time and he probably shouldn't be rolling his eyes this much but he can't help it, his girlfriend is annoying. "i don't know how. i'm gonna end up ripping it."

"oh. you right, you right." she unhooks and unties and unlaces and he frowns at how intricate it all seems, given that the piece of fabric was made to be taken off. "okay," she starts, as she pulls the thin material over her head. "but it's crazy how expensive this is! when ino roped me into that store, i thought she was buying it for me, but she left right when i reached the register! the audacity−"

he cringes. "please don't talk about our friends while we're… _intimate_."

"oops." then he's on top of her again, caging her in with his hands on either side her. he drinks all of her in and knows that she's fighting the urge to cover herself when her fingers twitch at her sides. but then she surprises him and hooks her fingers on the waistband of his boxers and tugs them down, freeing his throbbing cock.

he presses his forehead on hers so that he's looking directly into her eyes. "are you sure?"

"yeah," she answers. "but only if you are, too."

he nods.

they are clumsy and inexperienced, but they are head over heels in love with each other and she gives herself to him as wholly as he gives himself to her. his fingers slide between the spaces between hers and she squeezes his hand tightly. and it's over sooner than he'd like, but she stays and she curls up against him. she doesn't retreat into a cocoon of shame and embarrassment, so neither does he.

sasuke is not romantic. he wouldn't call it making love even though it is, but it's too cheesy to say out loud. he's not a disney prince or a nicholas sparks caricature, he won't sweep her off her feet with grand gestures. he can't give her the great love story he knows she deserves, but he kisses her fully and deeply and it's so tender and gentle and sweet and just perfect. _she's _perfect.

sasuke is not the ideal boyfriend but he loves her and he'll never be eloquent enough to put into words the magnanimity of what he feels for this girl but he hopes she _knows_.


	11. something borrowed

day twenty-one. **something borrowed. **

**Rating: K**

Sasuke was unpredictable as ever, now that he was away on a journey to seek forgiveness from the world and redemption in himself. He came and went like a bird in passing. Sakura never knew when he was coming or how long he was staying.

Just yesterday, for example, he caught her during her break. They had taken a walk to the edge of the village and sat down for lunch on an empty bench that overlooked the ocean. Sasuke was never one to engage in small talk but he asked about her day, how she was doing, how things were in the hospital and the developments in her mental health clinic. And when she looked at him, she could see the faintest of smiles on his face as he listened to her. But after just two minutes, he had to leave again.

He left her with another poke on her forehead and a key dropped on the palm of her hand. She looked at him in confusion, and he'd simply said that she could stay in his apartment if she wanted to. She'd looked at him funny. "My apartment's just fine, Sasuke-kun," she said, pushing the key to his chest. "And besides, it's closer to the hospital!"

"Sakura, just…" he sighed, looking mildly irritated. But instead of snapping or just leaving without another word, he took her hand in his and gently closed her fingers over the key. Her breath hitched at the softness of the contact and she effectively stopped breathing when he held for a moment longer. "The apartment is yours as much as it's mine."

Now, she blushed furiously as she opened the door to the apartment she apparently now_ co-owned_ with the love of her life. She didn't know what she expected, but she found herself a little disappointed. His apartment didn't feel like him, didn't even smell like him. None of Sasuke lingered in this place so it was futile to come here for comfort in times when she yearned for him.

It was sparse and that's mostly because he was away for most of the year and he spent what little time he had in Konoha at her place. But what little he had is… team 7's.

Naruto's old fridge was in the kitchen, and so was his coffee pot. She found the nunchucks he had borrowed when he'd first gotten out of the hospital after the war and started training again, in the living room. She found her own books and several scrolls that's been missing from the library for some time now, and even Kakashi's very own copy of Icha Icha−she knew it was his because she recognized the darkened edge of the spine from when she tried to set it on fire.

Sasuke's temporary living space was an amalgamation of team 7, a mismatched patchwork where everything out of place belonged.

Sasuke, for better or for worse, was a moocher. He borrowed and borrowed and borrowed and it always escaped his mind to return them. She should know, though. She lent him her heart as he embarked on his journey, and it seemed he had no intention of returning it at all.

Well. He _had_ given her a key in return. And that was enough for now.


	12. departures

day twenty-three. **departures.**

**Rating: T**

The first person she had said goodbye to was Tsunade, who had unexpectedly dropped by at her house to say that she, too, was leaving the village. She was going to travel again and indulge herself in drinking and gambling, picking up right where she left off before she became hokage. They'd talked over bottles of sake at ten in the morning.

Tsunade placed both of her hands on Sakura's shoulders and told her, in an almost scolding manner, not to skip meals and overwork herself at the hospital, to get ample amounts of sleep, to take care of herself and let herself be taken care of and−_stop crying, you stupid girl, I'm not done talking!_

She cupped Sakura's cheek and wiped her tears away, all the while fondly petting the top of her pink head. When Sakura gave her a watery smile and her tears were reduced to sniffles, the older woman tipped her chin up with one finger so that their eyes met. "Is he good to you?" Tsunade asked, voice gentle but stern.

Sakura felt herself on the verge of tears again. "Very."

The second person she had gone to see, of course, was her best friend. Ino was having a particularly slow day at the flower shop so she'd closed up for lunch and the two of them headed to the training grounds. It had been ages since they sparred with each other; they had been girls then, now they were kunoichis, war heroes.

The training grounds were decimated, to say the least. Ino was pulling a shuriken out of her thigh and snapping a dislocated shoulder back into place when Sakura broke the news that Sasuke had asked her to come with him on his journey and she'd said yes.

The blonde stopped mid-rant, brows quirking up and mouth forming into a sly smile. Sakura has never felt more dirty and she pushed Ino's face away. "Forehead!" she shouted angrily and shoved the other girl so that she fell back into the grass.

"So," Ino started, much calmly this time. She shifted and turned to lie her head down on Sakura's stomach. "You're _eloping_."

"We are _not_," Sakura said through gritted teeth. "We're just… going on a vacation."

"Be sure to stop by my apartment before you go, okay? I'll give you _a lot_ of condoms. For safe travels−ow, you fucking bitch!"

Now, she was on her way to her parents' house, both to tell them about her long-term trip out of the village and to clean up the sweat and grime off of her. Exhausted, the only thing she could focus on as she entered her childhood home and toed off her sandals was the smell of food, filtering in through her nose all the way from the kitchen. She hummed pleasantly, mouth already watering at the thought of her mom's home-cooked meals.

She stopped in her tracks as she reached the kitchen, surprised by the scene before her. Her dad was making onigiri on the dining table and her mom was chopping vegetables on the counter and just to her right, Sasuke−yes, Sasuke, was in her mother's kitchen−was frying fish in the pan.

"What's… going on here?"

"Oh, there you are!" Kizashi wiped his hands on his apron and wrapped his arms around his daughter, squeezing her tight. "Sasuke-kun here was just asking for your hand in marriage!"

Sakura choked and across the room from her, Sasuke sputtered and met her eyes in a panic. Then Kizashi shook with a booming laugh that resounded through the entire house and made Mebuki shake her head with a sigh. He slapped a big hand on Sakura's back and if she were a lesser person, she would have stumbled forward with such force. The man was close to tears when his laughter died down. "I'm kidding! He just told us you two were going on a trip together."

His daughter frowned up at him and before she could say anything, her mother's beat her to it. "Don't joke about things like that, papa," she admonished. "It's inappropriate."

But the woman wasn't done talking. She wasn't even looking at the vegetables she was chopping when she turned to Sasuke. "But you don't even _have _to ask−" Sakura groaned. "Our daughter is smart, beautiful, and accomplished. She's her own woman and she's not our property to give away." Then she added quickly, "But you would be a fool not to marry our daughter."

"Kaa-san!"

But Sasuke only chuckled, ever so quietly, meeting Sakura's eyes again for a fleeting moment before resuming to what he was doing. "Aa. I would be."

She felt heat in her cheeks, overwhelmed by it all−Sasuke, cooking dinner with her parents; her parents, being so at ease around him; him, practically telling the three of them that he would, in fact, be marrying her. All the while, she stood there, ragged and dirty and exhausted, the unlikely picture of a girl being proposed to in the most roundabout way.

"Say, why don't you get married before you go?"

"Tou-san!"

Dinner, at least, was less mortifying. Freshly showered and clean, Sakura sat next to Sasuke across from her parents. Her dad finally toned down the jokes, no doubt at his wife's request, and her mom stuck with guiding the conversation by asking the young couple questions. All with a little scolding every so often because Sakura worked too much and Sasuke trained too much and neither of them slept and ate enough. And Sakura just sat frozen, watching _Sasuke _get scolded by _her mother_.

That night, they left her parent's house with bags of leftovers from dinner and some other snacks that they've been told to pack for their trip.

"Sasuke-kun," she called out, seeing him walk ahead of her in the opposite direction. "Where are you going?"

He turned to her, brows scrunching a little in confusion. "Home."

Her breath hitched, heart stuttering a little at the way he referred to her apartment as home. _Their_ home. But the night was young and they weren't done with their rounds yet. "We have to tell your family, too."

And he held her hand tightly as they stood before his parents and his brother.

The last people they said goodbye to were Kakashi and Naruto, who insisted on seeing them off at the village gates at the break of dawn. Kakashi had wished them a safe passage before pulling Sasuke aside for their own private conversation. Naruto and Sakura gave each other a knowing look. The Uchiha has always been their sensei's favorite, even when he claimed he didn't have a favorite.

"I'm gonna miss you!" Naruto whined, wrapping his arms tightly around Sakura.

"Oi." Sasuke pulled him by the back of his jacket and pried him off of her.

"You're just _jealous_."

"Hn. _You're_ just jealous that you don't get to come out and play because you're holed up doing this old man's paperwork for him."

"Hell yeah, I am!"

"Boys, cut it out," she said, exasperatedly, pulling the two apart. Then she turned to her hokage and the hokage-in-training. "Try not to burn the village down while I'm gone, okay?"

"What are you thinking?" she asked, barely above a whisper when she saw him deep in thought, almost like he was worrying about something. They were lying under the stars and her skin was against his skin and her legs were tangled with his legs and her hand was on his beating heart. And this was a new thing that they did, tell each other everything, and she could see him struggling with it as his lips drew into a thin line and his brows furrowed in concentration.

The words came slowly to him, but they came. "Sometimes… I wonder if this is okay."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't deserve you," he said, and it shouldn't sting her but it did. "You deserve better."

And it hurt to hear him say it, to know that he was still internalizing all of this. After all this time, after almost two years of being together, apart. She raised herself on her elbow so that she's looking down at him, meeting his hopeless black eyes with fierce affection. "I don't," she said. She shook her head vehemently and reached down to hold his hand in hers. "I deserve _this_."

"I've loved you for as long as I can remember," she continued, voice shaking with the intensity of her emotions. "Years and years of pining after you, crying over you, missing you, loving you through it all… I deserve to be with the one I love. I deserve to finally be with you. For as long as you'll have me."

His face twisted as though he were in pain, and he swallowed thickly. "I'm not… worthy."

She cupped his cheek in her hand and pressed her forehead to his. "You are better," she said, softly now. "The boy I loved and the man I'm choosing to be with are very different people. You _are _better, Sasuke-kun. And maybe… after everything you've been through, all the hurt and suffering, the traumas and the betrayals… maybe _you _deserve better. You deserve to be happy, to love and be loved back."

* * *

**a/n**: been seeing a lot of 'sakura deserves better' headassery again


	13. lullaby

day twenty-nine. **lullaby.**

**Rating: K**

Kakashi found a spot and team 7 prepared to set up camp. They were deep enough in the forest that they could afford to use a bonfire to keep warm through the night. Naruto scavenged for firewood and Sasuke blew a blazing fire through his mouth to light it, while Sakura laid out their sleeping bags and arranged them so that they were lying side-by-side with her between her two boys.

She volunteered to take first watch, her small hand shooting up eagerly, and Sasuke tapered down the feeling of utter relief and satisfaction. As he slipped under his covers, he told himself it was because he didn't have to deal with her twisting and turning and sometimes kicking his shins and punching his face in her sleep. Absolutely not because she hummed sweet little melodies when she thought everyone was already sleeping. Sometimes, she would even sing to herself, voice quiet and soothing. And he would never admit that he liked it, that it was only ever when she took the first watch and he heard her voice that he got good, restful and dreamless sleep. He would never admit this, not even to himself.

When she sang, he fell into such deep sleep that he never woke from her fingers gently threading through his hair.

And sometimes, in the hollow rooms of Orochimaru's hideout, just before his fatigue claimed him, he would still hear her soft humming in his head.


	14. games

**prequel to the _day 9_ prompt.**

* * *

day thirty. **games.**

**Rating: T, just because of the drinking i guess**

It was just like old times. The three of them sat around the table in Sakura's home, with Naruto and Sasuke bickering over one thing or another, while she tried to keep the peace by intimidating them with her fists while simultaneously preparing impromptu otsumami snacks. It was just like old times, except there was alcohol.

Naruto had called it a team-building exercise, but it was all too obvious. So obvious that when Sakura's cheeks burned a shade darker than her hair, Sasuke knew it was from pure mortification and secondhand embarrassment, and not at all because of inebriation. But Naruto carried on shamelessly like it was nothing, like this whole drinking game wasn't a bullshit ploy to pry into Sasuke's life.

The questions started innocently and inconspicuously enough. "Favorite place you've been to," Sakura read, and it was a question for him.

Sasuke didn't have _favorite anythings_, but he answered with the first place that popped into his head. "Shangri-la," he said casually.

Her brows shot up in surprise and Naruto chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head.

Shangri-la was better known by its other name, the Valley of Lies. It was a haven for anyone who had a bounty on their head, typical answer from an ex-international criminal, which was a label these two were trying so hard to leave in the past. They rated his answer a high 10 and he downed his drink in ten seconds.

His face twisted with the bitter taste and the nasty burn that lined his throat and warmed his stomach. But he pushed through and reached into the tin can and fished out a question for Naruto. "Something you missed while you were away from the village."

The blond beamed and stretched his arms upward. "Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed, loud and proud.

"You have a girlfriend," the kunoichi reminded him.

"Yeah, but I didn't have one when I left and I was pretty much in love with you but you wouldn't give me the time of day because of this jackass over here!"

Sasuke kicked him under the table but Sakura kicked him harder. The hokage-in-training looked at the two of them, scandalized that his two most trusted people were tag-teaming him. They quickly rated his answer just to shut him up.

Sakura's feelings for him was still a taboo topic for both of them. She's laid her heart out to him time and time again, but Sasuke had burned too many bridges and he was only beginning in the process of rebuilding them. She had silently given him his space and time. Besides, she had other things to take care of, like the restoration of the village and the countless shinobi in need of her medical expertise in the aftermath of the war. Not to mention that she was opening a mental health clinic. She had things to preoccupy herself while she waited for him to get his shit together.

"Why the open shirts?" Naruto asked next, and Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Mou," she frowned. "This one's way too obvious."

He slid his arm across the table and leaned closer to the real subject of the question in response. "Okay, but seriously, teme. Did that creep force you into those _revealing _clothes?"

Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance and shoved the other boy's face away from his, his temple twitching as he answered. "It was light and breezy. It was easy to move in them."

"But−"

"Drop it, dobe."

And so the rest of the night went like that, until Sasuke's prided vision doubled and his two former−or were they now his _current _again−teammates remained unjustly sober, all clear speech and just a little color in their cheeks. Sakura was kind enough to offer him water and constantly check if he was doing okay−and he almost said _yes, beautiful, i'm okay_ but he didn't because he wasn't _that _drunk. And Naruto, the insensitive git, just laughed at him the whole time.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Sakura jumped giddily in her seat, waving the piece of paper around. She beamed at Sasuke but scrunched her nose at him in disgust when he burped loudly. "I love this one. Tell us something we don't know about Orochimaru."

They didn't even pretend that this wasn't about him anymore. He furrowed his brows, thinking hard−harder than usual because he only had one functioning brain cell doing all the work at this point. He thought about the strange, strange snake man and all of his disturbingly odd _quirks_. He was a mysterious man, an enigma, if you will, and there were a lot of things about the sannin that would totally floor these two before him. But the one thing that nobody but him knows…

"He regretted taking me," he said, words a little slurred. They both gasped at the revelation. "He wanted me for my sharingan but when he heard about Tsunade's new apprentice, with the big brain and perfect chakra control, who was as much a medic as she was a war machine…" he met Sakura's seafoam green eyes that grew wider and brighter with every word. "Orochimaru might have been _this _close to waging a war with Konoha for you."

"Sakura-chan! What the hell are you turning red for?!"

"What, I'm flattered!" she said indignantly. Huffing, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Orochimaru is a great person−"

Sasuke winced and Naruto blanched.

"Heinous and immoral, _yes_. But great. If his intentions were in the right place, I believe that he would've done a lot for the world of science and medicine. Right up there with Tsunade-shishou."

Sasuke drank for another ten seconds and he was so drunk at this point that he could barely read the next question, and had to hand it over to Naruto. "First kiss?" he asked Sakura.

She pouted. "None−no, _you _don't count! That was CPR, moron."

"Whatever," Naruto grumbled. "I'll forever consider you my first kiss."

"Technically, _I'm _your first kiss."

"You don't have to remind me, teme."

Naruto gave her a 9 and Sasuke gave her a 1. They both turned to him in surprise. They haven't had a 1 all night. "You've _had _your first kiss," he said offhandedly, and his already pink cheeks grew a darker red. And it was more than just because he was drunk.

"Fuck. You're shitfaced, aren't you? Shit, Sakura-chan, I think we broke him!"

He glared at Naruto before his eyes focused on Sakura. Even with shaky vision, he could see her features shift from worry to utter confusion to−_oh_. "Oh," she gasped softly. Her hand absentmindedly raised to touch her open mouth, and the memory of how soft they had been came rushing back to him, and how they tasted of salt from her tears.

She looked at him in shock and disbelief, but there was also a little fear there and a lot of hurt. And he knew that she was transported back to the same moment he was thinking of: when he turned his back on her, on everything she had to offer and everything he knew he could not want, and everything they could have been… and he left her on a bench, in the cold, with nothing but a thank you and a kiss she would never remember.

"Hold, hold up," Naruto said, breaking both of them out of their thoughts. "So what you're saying is… you're _our _first kiss. Jesus. Sasuke, you slut."

* * *

**a/n**: 14 out of 31? i'll do better next year, i promise. i'd love to know what your favorite entry by me was, please feel free to let me know in the reviews.

just want to say that i really appreciate all the support and to those who read _**Intoxicated **_and _**a lesson in romantics**_, i am going to be able to work on these stories a little more now that ssmonth is over but i do hope that you will continue to be patient with me. please understand that i also have a life outside of writing sasusaku fanfiction and that i also have other writing endeavors outside of fanfiction. i thank you for your continued support but also want to remind everyone that i am also human.

check me out on tumblr for more stories: **uchiharvno**.


	15. turbulence ii

it's not sasusaku month anymore but i felt inspired to write something related to my _**day 16**_ entry.

**prequel** **to _turbulence _**(dirty politics au).

* * *

"Choke me," she demanded.

Sasuke nearly came right then and there as she reacted instantly to the assault. Her pussy clamped around him tighter, her back lifted off the bed in a graceful arch. The strangled moan that escaped her was music to her ears.

He could kill her, just like this. He could do it, and say that it was an accident. Could even say that it was her fault, that she'd asked for it, that it was her who put his hand there and begged him to choke her harder. _That's _what a crime of passion looked like–an imprint of his hand circling her neck, bite marks on her tits, bruises on the inside of her thighs…

_Does it feel good, flower, when I fuck you like this?_

Sakura gasped his name, fingernails digging painfully into his sides. Her green eyes, glassy and delirious with pleasure, rolled back as he drove into her, hitting the perfect spot inside her over and over again, hard and fast. Tightening his hand around her neck, he furiously thumbed her clit with the other.

He was sick, he knew, for taking her like this while fantasizing about killing her. The crunching sound that her neck would make if he squeezed any harder than he already was, the way her eyes would widen at his unsurprising betrayal, the way he would steal her last breath right into his mouth… if he killed her now, would she be his forever?

His hips snapped against hers one final time, his entire body going rigid as he spilled himself inside her. He could feel her throbbing around him, squeezing his cock for every last drop as she shuddered violently from the intensity of her own release.

He held her despite himself, helping her ride out her orgasm. And when the spasms died down, she shoved him off of her, much like she was discarding trash she no longer needed. It should've hurt but he couldn't help but smirk in amusement as he collapsed next to her. This side of her, cold and angry but still undeniably drawn to him… he wanted to see more of it.

Catching her breath, she slipped out of bed and his eyes followed her as she scavenged through clumsily discarded clothes for her purse. Sakura bent down and he was treated to the view of her perfect ass, reddened by the palm of his hand, and the mess he'd made between her thighs, his cum still dripping out of her cunt.

"Here," she said abruptly, tossing a manila envelope to his chest.

He shot her a questioning look before pulling himself up to a sitting position. "You want dirt on Danzo, don't you?" she asked, before he could even begin sifting through the envelope's contents.

_How did you–_

She moved to stand over him, pinning him down with her gaze. Her mouth twisted in a cruel smile and she chuckled humorlessly. "You haven't changed, Sasuke-kun. You've always been so transparent."

He should've known. Nothing he did ever went past Sakura.

The last time they'd spent a night together like this, he was nowhere to be found the next morning. Up and left without so much as a goodbye, never to be heard from again. Until now. Could she have known, from the moment their eyes met for the first time after nearly a decade, the reason for his return?

"Where have you been, all these years?" she continued. "Naruto runs for office and all of a sudden you're back. All of a sudden, you're _best buddies_ again? You've got some nerve!"

She looked at him with so much disgust, such contempt. She looked at him like he was dirt beneath her feet. "You still love me," he realized.

Harshly, she grabbed him by the chin and he stared up to see the beautiful snarl on her face. But there was something else in her eyes, a look that he recognized all too well. Her expression softened as her gaze flitted to his mouth.

"I despise you," she said, and he believed her. She let him go only to trail a finger across the line of his jaw, to run her thumb along his lower lip before pushing the digit into his mouth. She gasped softly as he began sucking on it, twirling his tongue around it. "But I need you."

"For what?" he asks through a mouthful.

"Power."


End file.
